Beating the file-sharers at their own game Recently, bands releasing new albums have been making use of the internet to promote their music, rather than attempting to shut it down. Bands such as The Liars, Wilco and Tortoise have been streaming their whole albums onto the internet. more inside

Bin Laden offers truce - to Europe. He states that if all European troops are withdrawn from the Middle East within three months, Al-Qaida will not attack European targets. "Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood." more inside

Terragen. An awesome and very easy to use landscape generator. A free piece of software that lets you render almost photo-realistic images in a matter of seconds. Just look at what you can do with it.

This Is Broken. A blog talking about, uh, broken stuff. Like the confused doors. Or DANALs. Also: The Hall Of Technical Documentation Weirdness

The Boards of Canada website. Even if you're not a fan of the music, the website is great fun to mess about on for five minutes. or an hour [Shockwave]

Free games! Three games that I've come across recently that you can play and download for free. You didn't want to get any work done today, did you? more inside

How Google plan to take over the world... in a nice way Jason Kottke predicts what Google are up to next - little less than worldwide domination. They have the perfect place to store this map (one of the world's largest computers that's all but incapable of crashing). And they are clever at reading this map. Google knows what people write about, what they search for, what they shop for, they know who wants to advertise and how effective those advertisements are, and they're about to know how we communicate with friends and loved ones. What can they do with all that? Just about anything that collection of Ph.Ds can dream up. A bit more information about Google's computing power, and the possibility that it holds.

You. Yes you. I see you there, with your ukulele and your collection of Beatles LPs. Why, it's enough to make any man laugh with joy. But wait! Why so sad? What's that? You wish to combine your two loves of the ukulele and the Beatles? Well, now you can! [Flash]

Click Mazes is a collection of interactive mazes and puzzles to get your grey matter working. My favourites included the plank puzzles and the collection of tilt puzzles.

Are you G? Are you on a budget? Well, then. Iced Out Gear is perfect for you. My favourite items are easily the pimp cups. "Caution: These cups are made out of plastic and you should not drink out of them"

'It's so difficult to live with what we know' A stark and horrifying account from yesterday's Guardian of the 100 days of genocide in Rwanda, ten years ago. I never realised the full extent of the slaughter of the Tutsis by the Hutu: it was the most comprehensive genocide since the Holocaust. [part two]

Biking in Chernobyl. A Russian woman goes on a motorbike trip through Chernobyl and the surrounding area. She takes some truly amazing pictures, demonstrating the unimaginable impact to the Russian way of life, both on a huge and a human scale. Definitely worth bearing with the broken English.

Build a tower, fight Vikings, get egged on by small blond men with swords. An excellent little puzzle game that ranks alongside that damn helicopter game and good-quality heroin in addictiveness.

How is the universe going to end? An entertaining article all about the freezing/burning/infinite/finite/depressing/exciting end of the universe, and the eschatologists who contemplate it. "Eschatology — it's a great word. I had never heard of it until I discovered I was doing it."

Puzzle Pirates! A massively multiplayer online RPG with a distinctly more sedate attitude. Sail ships, drink, pump the bilges, fight other pirates, all with block puzzles. Imagine Final Fantasy meets Tetris meets Playmobil. Friendly, free, easy to play and frighteningly addictive.

3ms Pedals. Not only do they look insanely cool, they also create some of the craziest effects you'll ever hear. Most interestingly, they're handmade by a non-profit anarchist artistic collective, and if you can't afford the rather steep price tags, they'll accept bartering or let you make one yourself. Now that's hardcore. if guitar effects pedals don't interest you, go look at the fat naked Elvis instead.

Hektor - the grafitti-drawing robot.

The Seamless City. An artist takes a 30-mile walk through San Fransisco, taking photos as he goes and stitching them together to make a completely continuous portrait of his city. It's not complete yet, but there are some small samples that give you some idea of the mind-boggling scale of his undertaking.

Steel Ball Bam-Bam-Bam! Japanese people stop demolition balls with their hands! And then throw them back! I have no idea at all how to play this. Just press space at the right moment to stop the ball and let go when the thingy's at the right angle.

Amazing animation of the trip from Earth to Mars of the NASA explorer doowotsit. Includes "aww" factor as the explorer watches its first Martian sunset. via my homey Kottke